Pulsed neutron source using 100-MeV electron linac at Pohang Accelerator Laboratory

Abstract

The Pohang Accelerator Laboratory uses a 100-MeV electron linac for the pulsed neutron source as one of the long-term nuclear R&D programs at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The linac has two operating modes; one for short pulse mode with the various repetitions between 2 ns and 100 ns and the other for long pulse mode with 1 /spl mu/s. The major beam parameters are as follows; the nominal beam energy is 100 MeV, the maximum beam power is 10 kW, and the beam current is varied from 300 mA to 5 A and depends on the pulse repetition. We constructed and tested a test-linac based on the existing equipment such as a SLAC-5045 klystron, two constant gradient accelerating sections, and thermionic RF-gun. We describe the characteristics of the test-linac and report the status of the pulsed neutron source facilities including a target system and time-off-flight paths.